


Red Thread

by LightningRei



Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Car Accidents, Hospitals, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Red String of Fate, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Trans Gary Goodspeed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 04:12:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14947335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningRei/pseuds/LightningRei
Summary: Who knew that the love of your life would just end up hurdling towards you on a motorcycle, and you didn't even know what the hell just happened?





	1. gary

**Author's Note:**

> WOW i really hope this isnt boring... this is my first multi chapter fic for this fandom. ive never written a slow burn before so i hope its good

Some people say that there’s a “red thread of fate”, originated in Japan, it’s red and it’s wrapped around your ankle. Maybe it’s wrapped around your pinky, a ring finger, maybe down by your waist. Gary’s dad would joke about that myth all the time, saying that his red thread got cut, then he never knew who his fated person was to be. But eventually the loss of the thread ended up guiding him to Gary’s mom. He wasn’t even sure whether that was a good thing or not, seeing his mom wasn’t even around anymore.

It was so silly. So silly but so cute. He wondered all the time whether it was really real, and whether it’d end up leading him to his fated love. Maybe it was a girl? A boy? A rock? He didn’t know. He wasn’t entire sure he was ever going to know.

Gary Goodspeed, 20 something year old in the year two thousand eight hundred something in college. Majoring in something he didn’t really care about. The one guy in the dorms who _doesn’t_ share a dormitory with someone. The solitude was _not fun._ At all. He was naturally social, and being cooped up alone during late night cramming sessions wasn’t the most beneficial for him. His eyes glazed over the textbook in front of him, some post its scattered in between paged with nonsensical annotations. Good god, how long had he just been sitting there?

He leaned back on his chair, practically throwing his back behind it. He closed his eyes hard as his knuckles rubbed against his eyelids, letting out an exasperating groan at the same time. He sat back up, then stood up onto his feet. Grabbing the front cover of the textbook, he closed it. Then he grabbed it, picked it up over his head, and slammed it onto the ground. The sound it made was deafening as the hardcovers slapped onto the floor beneath it. The floor was carpeted so it only barely dampened the sound of the impact.

That was not satisfying at all.

Gary stood idly, not sure whether he wanted to pick up the book or not. He grabbed a jacket and slipped on some cheap sandals over his socks. He practically yanked his phone off of its charger and left his room. Unlocking it immediately, he went to his messages app. There was only a few people in there, the amount of people he had texted didn’t even reach the bottom of the screen. His thumb drifted up to the name at the top, the only person he tried to constantly keep in contact with.

It said _icy minx,_ decorated in emojis.

Tapping on it, the two’s message history popped up. He walked down the hallway to the elevator, letting his familiarity of the area guide him as he texted into his phone.

 **quinn  
** **quinn.**

He pressed the down button on the elevator and waited for it to arrive as he waited for Quinn’s response. The ding of the elevator rung in his ears, the doors opening. It revealed 4 other students sitting around a table playing poker. They all looked back at Gary, smugness radiating off of their faces.

“Well, fellas. I would join you but I’m not in the mood to play.” Gary said, finger gunning at them and taking an automatic detour from the elevator to go to the stairs.

He watched his phone screen light up from the corner of his eye. Raising it up to his face, Quinn thankfully responded.

**What?**

He raced down the stairs, his hand grinding on the rail as he kept his balance, using his other hand to text back.

 **are you busu  
** **busy  
** **sorru im liike  running down the staira rn**

**Yes, im busy. What do you want?**

**can we like. talk**

**About?**

**oh yoi know  
** **idk listen, im just out of it**

 **Maybe tomorrow  
** **Arent you supposed to be studying?**

**yea thats why im out of it**

She left him on read for a few minutes. Gary was taking a stroll around his campus. It was nearly 12 am, the sky was pitch black and the lights strewn about lit up the carved out pavement to walk on. Outside the campus he could hear motorcycles revving up in the distance.

 **We can talk tomorrow  
** **Meet me at the cafe thats like 2 blocks down  
Ill figure out a time tmrw. Dont bother me again**

He didn’t say anything, leaving her on “Read at 11:46 pm”. It didn’t bother her. If he had objections to meeting up with her, he definitely would’ve said something.

Their campus was huge. Gary found a bench to sit on, slipping his phone into his pocket.

* * *

 

Avocato. Avo… Cato. Late 20 something year old, a residential drop out and a Ventrexian residing on Earth. He wasn’t the least bit proud of giving up just within his first year, but college really just wasn’t for him.

He was pretty detached from those around him, not even having a close friend to himself, nonetheless a friend. He didn’t even consider the people he hung around the most to be his friends. Moreso his allies than anything else. It was frustrating at times, he wanted to trust people. But with this group of ragtag bikers, he didn’t care to get close to any of them and just being around them probably didn’t give him the opportunity to get close to anyone else.

It's not like they even did anything bad, they were just all bark and no bite. It was just all petty vandalism and harassment of locals, but they never hurt or killed anyone. He guessed they just loved getting the thrill of making people scared, but he figured that if they don’t up the stakes, their reputation would wear off and they wouldn’t even be considered a threat anymore. It’s not like he really cared to be honest, as long as the cops weren’t really on his tail (literally), he wouldn’t mind staying with them.

It couldn’t be all that bad though. He rode his own cool motorcycle and wore a tight leather jacket all the time. When out in public, he’d wear his helmet. It’d intimidate people, so that was another pro.

* * *

 

Oh crap. He fell asleep outside. Gary shifted around, raising his arms above his head as he stretched. It was still just as dark as when he fell asleep, at least it wasn’t like 6 in the morning. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, which was luckily still there. Thankfully he fell asleep on campus rather than in a public park. All his stuff probably would've been gone, including his clothes more than likely.

He yawned, turning on the phone. 3:04 am. Alright. He slept a hell of a while but not long enough that he couldn't get enough good sleep back in his dorm. He got up and stretched a bit, heading back to the dormitories.

Pressing the elevator button, it opened almost immediately, the poker kids now nowhere in sight. There were two cards strewn out on the floor. He went up to his floor, going into his room and flopping onto his bed. He slipped off his shoes before immediately falling asleep.

He was woken up by his phone vibrating under his cheek. His jaw hung open, though he closed it and smacked his lips.

It was Quinn calling him. He answered it, not bothering to pick it up.

_“Morning, Gary. Heard you were sleeping outside.”_

“Oh man, people just saw me sleeping out there but didn't do anything about it?”

She chuckled over the line.

_“Yeah, pretty much. Anyways. I'll see you at the cafe around… 9:30.”_

“Wait wait, what time is it right now?”

_“Just turned 8.”_

“Okay,” He groaned. “See ya then.” He said hanging up, immediately falling asleep for another 45 minutes.

He sure wish he hadn't done that because now his head felt super heavy. He was still dressed from his night stroll so at least he didn't have to worry about that. He thought on whether he should save brushing his teeth for later or now. Eh. Leave it ‘til later.

He headed out, a very scarce amount of students roaming the hallway.

Exiting the elevator once it hit the first floor, he made his way to leave the campus.

Gary sat alone at a small cafe table near the window, surfing through his phone idly. He let out some wheezy laughs at some jokes he had scrolled past. This generation's humor was particularly strange. It only took a few garbled letters or white noise to get Gary rolling. Maybe that was just him.

A particular figure appeared within his view. Looking up, it was Quinn who had her fingers intertwined with another woman. Stopping nearly in front of the cafe doors, they turned to each other before granting each other a soft kiss and parting ways, waving each other goodbye.

Quinn glanced at Gary as she walked in, him waving slightly. She walked in, wearing a really weird turtleneck that sagged slightly.

“Hey, Quinn!”

“Gary.” She said, pulling out the chair adjacent to him and sitting on it.

He squinted, staring at her neck underneath the turtleneck.

“So, hickeys, huh?” He asked loudly, revealing the love bites riddled on her skin.

“GARY!” She scream-whispered.

“Is that what you were busy with last night?”

“DON'T YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO TALK TO ME ABOUT?”

He laughed, looking around briefly to see if anyone had cared to hear what he just said.

“Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about you and your girlfriend,”

Quinn's gaze got cold as she prepared to argue in defense of her.

“Well not like, about her. About your relationship- Like, relationships in general!”

After the clarification, her eyes softened now knowing she didn't have to murder Gary.

“What about relationships? Are you interested in someone or something..?”

“No, I'm not. Yet. But I'd like to be!”

Quinn smirked a little, raising an eyebrow.

“Do you need advice for something specific?”

“Kind of,” He sighed, running his hand through his hair as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say. “How do you fall in love and uh.. how do you actually get into a relationship and maintain it. Also how do you know when the other person feels the same way.”

Quinn thought a bit, inhaling before speaking. “First off, you'll know when you're in love. Like when you're really in love. You just end up feeling it deep in you. Second off, relationships is a lot of communication. The better and more frequent you communicate with each other, the easier it is to maintain. And lastly… Hm. Sometimes you just don't know? Sometimes it's obvious and no matter how blatant it may seem to you it may not be what you think. It's a wild card.”

Gary nodded, taking in what he just heard. “Yeah, alright. I got that for the most part. Thanks Quinn.”

She nodded in return, smiling.

The two stayed with each other for a bit, discussing the usual weird shenanigans on campus among other topics before parting ways maybe half an hour later. Quinn stayed behind in the cafe, and Gary headed back to the campus. It was fairly empty on the streets as usual. He stood at the curb, looking back and forth while crossing.

A motorcycle took a sharp curve, speeding down the street. Gary's head turned to face the motorcycle driving straight in his direction.

Oh crap..

His adrenaline kicked in, and he took a step forward. Just not fast enough.


	2. thread

“Are you fucking serious?” Avocato growled.

“Yeah man.” One of the bikers said.

“What the fuck, I spend an hour driving down here for you guys to tell me you’re kicking me out as soon as I fucking park? Did none of you think to  _ call me _ before I wasted my time?”

Some of them stared at each other, another laughed to himself. Avocato glared at them, not getting a response to his question.

He let out a huge sigh mixed with a growl, and headed towards his bike and tossed a leg over it.

“Hey, give up your jacket. It's only for those who are with us.

Avocato paused. Goddamn, they really wanted nothing to do with him anymore. It almost hurt.

He shot a cold glare at him as he quickly took the jacket off, and held it firmly in his hands. He wasn't sure he wanted to actually let them take it back, and that was frustrating to him. 

He quickly yanked it on opposite sides, groaning as he tried to tear it apart. His ex gang members looked at him in panic, some with amusement. Leather was hard to tear, but he refused to make a fool of himself and give up.

The stress got a little lighter once all that effort caused a huge rip from the collar and halfway down its back. Without any second guesses he tossed it onto the ground, and hopped back onto his bike and put on his helmet. He was tempted to curse them out, but he revved up and sped off before his mouth could even begin to go off. The breeze on him was uncomfortable, seeing that he was now jacketless and all he had under that was a flimsy tank top.

All the streets were relatively clear, a few cars speeding by him as he took random turns down streets. His frustration at his ex-team kept him distracted and heavily unaware of where he was actually going and what happening around him. Taking a hard and sharp left turn, he hadn’t realized that someone was trying to cross the street just barely a block down. Gasping, he tried to swerve out of the way, though his reflexes weren't as fast as he’d hoped.

He slammed right into the man crossing the street, knocking him a few feet down the block and ended up toppling off of his motorcycle. A hard knock to his head from the ground underneath him made him black out for a few seconds, missing the sight of his bike flipping over him just a few inches from his body. It landed with a loud crash and skid, some metal parts flying off of it. Avocato tumbled down the street, stopping on his forearms after a while. He shook his head, and got back up to his feet, looking over at the mess he’d made. It wasn’t as bad as anticipated, but still undesirable. 

His heart sank, seeing a body sprawled out some feet away from him. Feeling his heart start pounding furiously in his chest, he sprinted back to his bike and sat it back up on its two wheels. He threw his leg back over it and drove off, ignoring the crowd that was starting to pool around the sight of the crash.  _ Hit and run! Holy shit, what the hell did I just do. Oh my god oh my god oh my g _

No cops around yet, and his helmet was still on so his identity was hidden for the most part. But who the hell couldn’t pinpoint a dark furred ventrexian anywhere on the street? Who cares? He just needed to get out of there ASAP.

* * *

Gary’s eyelids were heavy as he tried to open them, unclear as to why his head was hurting so much. Light filled his eyes and his pupils dilated as they adjusted to the surroundings around him. Last thing he remembered was  _ trying _ to cross the street, blacking out and now he’s in…. a hospital. Great. This bill is definitely gonna send him into debt.

He groaned and rubbed his head, feeling a gauze wrapped around it. Oh yeah, now he remembered. Hit by a motorcycle. Sitting up, he felt something shift around in his chest area, and he almost yelped, the pain taking him aback. Hissing his teeth from the sudden pain, he looked down, seeing that he was dressed in the usual hospital attire. 

“Crap.. I forgot my binder.” He said, rubbing his chest. There were a lot of aches and pains everywhere he touched, that was to be expected when you get hit by a motorcycle. Gary looked over to the side of him and saw his phone plugged in, resting on a table. He reached over with his left arm and grabbed it, his muscles aching. Turning it on, there were some frantic messages from Quinn in his messaging app. Awww, she actually cared about him. And he thought she just hung out with him out of pity.

**Gary did you see that?? Or hear that??  
** **I think there was a crash outside. Are you okay?  
** **Wait**

There was a big break between the timestamps of the texts.

**Jesus christ Gary. ATM im in the hospital with you, but i really cant stay  
** **Text me once you.re awake. asap  
** **And dont die on me i can guarantee ill be pissed**

He cracked a small smile. It actually made him feel pretty good knowing that she really showed some concern towards him.

Gary raised his right hand, ready to text back to her. His eyes moved from the screen to his middle finger, now noticing there was a very very thin thread wrapped around it. His eyes furrowed in confusion for a brief moment as he tried to figure out what it was. Placing down his phone on his lap, he used his newly freed hand to grab the thread. Yep, it was tangible.. It was strange as well, it was almost radiating heat, just very faintly. He tried to yank it, but it felt like it was tied to something else, and could hardly move it.

_ This is…. very strange! _

His fixation on the sudden thread around his finger was cut short by a nurse coming inside of his room. She was most definitely not human. Four arms, five eyes, pretty short. Yeah, not human.

“You’re awake, welcome back to reality, Mr. Goodspeed.” She said with a light tone. She walked over to his bedside, flipping through a clipboard. “You were caught up in an unfortunate motorcycle accident, but you got very lucky. Only suffering a minor fractured skull and a broken floating rib.. I’m sure that you’ll heal properly.”

“Oof! Thank goodness.” He sighed in relief, though the question slowly rising in his mind came up again. “Just.. what the heck is this thing around my finger?” He said, raising up his hand to show the nurse the thread. She looked at his hand then back at him, visible confusion.

“Mr. Goodspeed, there’s nothing there.”

He looked back at his hand. But. But it’s there! He can very clearly see it! He can feel it!

“Wait, seriously? I can see it.. It’s a itty bitty thread wrapped right around my middle finger!” He fought out the instinct to show her the finger all by itself, knowing that just showing his middle finger would come off as horribly rude.

She let out a breathy laugh, still a little confused.

“You might be having minor hallucinations, they should wear off soon.”   


Jeez, is he really hallucinating this thing? No, no way. Gary didn’t believe that cracking your skull like an egg would cause you to see things. This obviously means something… right?

“Alright… By the way, can I get some food? I’m starving. How long have I been out?”   
  
“Of course. And it’s been about 3 days.”

“3 DAYS? Crap!! Well, thank you.” He went back to his phone to finally respond to Quinn, glancing down at his finger every so often.

**quinn! im alive!**

It barely took any time for the message to be marked as read and for Gary to immediately get a response.

**I was so worried!  
** **Im coming to the hospital right now**

**  
** **oof**

It didn’t take long for Quinn to arrive. She slammed open the door, and ran into the room. Gary was eating, and scrolling through his phone.

“Hey Quinn!” He said.

She rushed over and hugged him, causing him to groan in pain. Quickly backing off she said, “I’m never hugging you again.” Quickly rummaging through her bag, she tossed a piece of clothing onto Gary’s lap. “I noticed that your chest was.. out, and figured you forgot to put on your binder which is not something you usually do. I figured you might need this once you’re discharged from here.”

Gary aww’d and fluttered his eyelashes at his friend. “Quinn caaaares about me. You even went into my room~”

“Shut up.” She sighed. “I’m glad you’re okay though. Next time, do you mind  _ looking _ where you’re going before crossing the street?”   
  
“I did! That freaking motorcycle sped around the corner and plowed into me! Now I’m stuck here there’s this stupid thread around my finger!”   
  
Quinn squinted. “A thread?”   
  
“Oh my god you can’t see it either? It’s around my finger, it’s red and.. a thread!” He said, showing Quinn and accidentally flipping her off.

“Haha, very funny.” She scowled.

Gary froze for a second. “Wait, no I didn’t mean it like that. It’s literally wrapped around my middle finger!!” He tried pulling on it again.

Quinn stared at him, she got the feeling that he wasn’t joking to use it as an excuse to flip her off.

“You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

His shoulders dropped, and looked up at her. He felt just a little embarrassed. “Yeah, I am. I know that I can see it, but the nurse just told me I was hallucinating! It’s a piece of thread, and it feels like it’s really there.”

She thought on how to respond. “You’re not really one to lie.. I don’t see it, but I’m willing to take your word on it.”    
  
“Woo, thank you!”   
  
“So you say it’s a red thread. So it’s like the red thread of fate?”   
  
“Oh, my dad used to tell me about that story all the time...  Maybe it is…?”   
  
“Hm… Can you see where it leads?”

“I could, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to walk around yet.”

“No one will catch you, it’s not like you’re escaping the hospital.”

Gary nodded and tried to ease himself out of bed. It wasn’t too hard, aside from his legs hurting a lot. He could feel that his legs were bruised, feeling the pain running through him with every pulse of his blood. He looked down, seeing the thread lying on the floor. He followed it as it lead him to the door. He cracked open the door and stuck his head out, seeing it lead down the hall. It looked like it… just went straight through the ground. His eyes must be playing tricks on him, though it was definitely a trail to something, or in this case probably someone.

He came back into the room, shrugging at Quinn.

“It’s definitely going somewhere, but I have no idea where.” He said, moving over to the window. It was dark outside, seemed like the sun had just finished setting. The buildings surrounding the hospital were brightly lit in accordance to the darkness of the sky. That in itself was pretty on its own. A red glow caught his eye, forcing him to look down. He pressed his head on the glass window, trying to get as much as the ground in view as he could. Near the bases of the buildings, they all seemed to be wrapped, tons and tons of times around them. For blocks and blocks, the ground nearly seemed to be engulfed by the thread. He looked at his hand, then back at the ground. I think  _ all that _ down there definitely belonged to him.

“Hooooolyyyyy crap.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT CHAPTER IS AN AVOCATO CHAPTER I SWEAR


End file.
